Debate contribution: Independent Reconfiguration Committee
Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on .
- MLA
- Mr Robbie Butler
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 7 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Question for Urgent Oral Answer
- Heading
- Independent Reconfiguration Committee
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5670179
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for South Antrim for his warm words. Indeed, he reached out to me and was probably one of the earliest to show confidence in my ability to take up some portfolios in politics. I will be forever grateful for that, Dr Aiken. It is well documented that not all clinicians will agree on all matters. Unfortunately, because we have a series of trusts and multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) that are working within constrained budgets and are under pressure most, if not all, of the time in that patient-facing arena, they do not always find the time to share best practice and air their frustrations, but they do all have an equally valuable part to play. Be they a paramedic, a nurse, an allied health professional, a consultant, a surgeon or a medical doctor, they all have equal value and equal importance in this. In my visits to both the SWAH and the Causeway Hospital, I found that, when one speaks to medics, they do not always speak with the same voice. The report that will come before me will be interrogated forensically. The committee will perform the function of ensuring that it has full confidence in those medical spaces, with the promise of better outcomes, or else change will not happen. The report has to have outcomes. We cannot have change for change's sake — we have done that in the past — but where change is necessary, it will happen, and it will be backed up with evidence.
I thank the Member for his kind words. I agree with him insofar as we need to remove the parish-pump from politics. We have to remember, however, that people do not experience healthcare in the same way. For instance, if you live in Belfast, you have the choice of three or four excellent hospitals. If you live in Belleek, however, you have to drive 30 or 40 miles to reach one hospital. People therefore experience health and social care in a very different way. I am sorry that the Minister of Agriculture is not here. In answer to one of the last questions to him today, he managed to have a dig at the Health Minister. I wish that he were here, because one of the things that I remember from my time as Chair of the Agriculture Committee is that the third pillar in this is rural affairs. If you live rurally, sometimes you do not get the best deal. Everybody who lives in Northern Ireland, however, is equal and has an equal voice. Everybody has the right to speak up to demand equity of access and understand that they have that right. Although we cannot build a hospital on every corner, with the advances being made in medicine and with diseases being cured, if we step with confidence towards the neighbourhood model, through which we will turbocharge prevention and intervention before people need to see their GP or a consultant in secondary care, we can change the face of health. We can do it, but we need to bring people with us. That is why the committee is being established. I ask the Assembly to ask me questions as this unfolds, because iron sharpens iron. This is the way forward, however.
I thank the Member for her words. I heard similar words last week, but I cannot say that I share the opinion. I caveat that by saying that I took up the portfolio less than three weeks ago, and, as you can imagine, I have had a huge amount of information to look at. However, my ears are open. It was important for me to, at the outset, engage, face to face and eyeball to eyeball, with the people that the proposed changes will affect. I do not accept that Antrim Area Hospital is failing. I do accept that all our hospitals are under immense pressure because of their constrained budgets, the failure to agree a Budget this year and the failure to agree multi-year Budgets. Why is that important? It is important because transformation will take time and will require a plan that has money attached to it. We can get on to a sustainable footing where we never talk about a hospital being a failing hospital, but, if we want to achieve that, we need to bring the public and our communities with us. That is why the committee will pay for itself.
740 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Awaiting analysis
This record has not been analysed yet. It is not counted in any total until it has been assessed.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reviews every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.